For purposes of discussion, problems in the art are discussed with respect to harvesting grain from a field. It is to be understood that although such discussion is useful for background purposes, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this application as there are applications to both removing a crop or product from a field as well as adding an agricultural input to a field.
One of the determinations that is needed during harvest is a determination of how much grain is left in the field. This is useful for scheduling and logistics purposes. Currently, a combine harvester operator can estimate how much grain is left in the field by looking at the area remaining and the average yield, and making an estimate or guess. Once this guess is made the combine operator can communicate over phone (e.g. cell phone), 2-way radio communications, or otherwise this information to other people associated with the harvest operations such as those towing grain wagons or driving grain trucks, those operating augers associated with grain bins or other on-farm storage, local grain elevators, operators of other combines, or any other person associated with the harvesting process. It is not particularly easy to communicate this information or even determine it in the first place. The problems are increased when the complexities of harvest operations increase such as by number of combines, grain wagons, grain trucks, etc.
With respect to the problem of determining an estimate regarding the amount of grain remaining, there tends to be errors for a variety of reasons. Some non-limiting examples are as follows. Aside from errors arising in the estimation of the amount of grain left in the field, there may be errors in the estimating how much grain is in the combine grain tank and in the auger wagon. Moreover, the operator needs to focus their attention on combining the field, so attempting to make even rough estimates is problematic. Of course, when there are multiple combines and auger wagons within the same field the complexities increase. Further, there can be added complexities when a determination is being made regarding how much grain is left in a given portion a field as opposed to the entire field.
Yet, having accurate estimates would be useful from a logistics standpoint, including but not limited to crop/product marketing/management decisions or other management decisions. If an accurate estimate was available, this may prevent trucks from driving to the field which ultimately are not needed or not having enough trucks to convey grain, or making incorrect decisions regarding whether the additional grain left will fill a grain bin or dryer. Thus, accurate estimates would be useful to drive better management decisions and reduce costs, as well as prevent unnecessary contribution to ground compaction issues caused by auger wagons traveling to unnecessary locations. What is needed is to provide a more reliable method and apparatus for determining an amount of crop or product remaining in a field or an area thereof.